Why Kohli’s dismissal against KKR was not given a no-ball

Kohli was out for 18 off 7 balls in RCB’s chase of 223, caught and bowled off a high full toss from Harshit Rana in the third over, having played the ball well outside his crease. It was a slower delivery that seemed to be dipping on the batter, even though it was above the waist height when Kohli made contact with it.

The TV umpire Michael Gough checked whether the delivery was legal for height and, according to the new Hawk-Eye ball tracking technology, the ball would have passed the batter at 0.92 metres from the ground if Kohli was upright at the crease. The height of Kohli’s waist had been measured beforehand at 1.04 metres, which means the ball would have passed below his waist had he been on his crease and not outside it, making it a legal delivery.

Kohli was unhappy with the decision and was seen expressing his displeasure to the on-field umpire, along with the non-striker Faf du Plessis, who also thought it should have been a no-ball for height.

To remove the subjective element in adjudicating no-balls above the waist this season, the IPL had introduced technology to measure the height of the ball as it passes the batter at the popping crease. That is then matched against the toe-to-waist height of the batter when in an upright position, which is measured and recorded in advance. If the height of the ball is higher than the recorded height of the batter’s waist, then it is declared a no-ball. Otherwise it’s a fair delivery.

In this case, the projected trajectory of the ball would have taken it 0.12 metres below Kohli’s waist had he been upright on his crease.

“Obviously, the rules are the rules,” RCB captain du Plessis said after the game. “Virat and myself at that stage thought that possibly the ball was higher than his waist. I guess they measure it on the popping crease.

“In those situations, you’ll always have one team that’s happy and one team that doesn’t feel like it’s quite the right decision. But that’s just how the game works.”